


...by any other name...

by MueraRashaye, Origami_Roses



Series: Aelius' Backstory Ficlets [3]
Category: Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Backstory, Other, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22409530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MueraRashaye/pseuds/MueraRashaye, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Origami_Roses/pseuds/Origami_Roses
Summary: What is a young prince to do when he overhears conversations with mysterious words he's never heard before?Ask the person who said them, of course!
Series: Aelius' Backstory Ficlets [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1474505
Comments: 28
Kudos: 78





	...by any other name...

**Author's Note:**

> Another bit of fun from Aelius' past. MueraRashaye and I have been having lots of fun with language ideas. ^_^ Turns out we're both geeks. (And I love it!) -O.R.
> 
> So. Much. Worldbuilding. It's FANTASTIC! Hope you enjoy. - MR

“Guard Aelius? May I sit here by you?”

Aelius raised an eyebrow at the small boy who had appeared at his side and made a show of looking around for his personal guard. Prince Jason’s eyes widened and he promptly insisted, “Hannel is with me! I promise!”

“Hmm. If Hannel is informed, and she agrees, yes. You will need to sit quietly until I am off shift, though.”

Jason’s answering smile was brilliant and he disappeared into the bushes. When he finally got too big to easily slip between the gaps of hedges and flower bushes, his guards lives would get so much easier, and the gardeners wouldn’t have to deal with quite so many mysterious caches of hidden things in the middle of their plantings. At least someone had thought to give him simple wooden boxes to store his various treasures in; it made it easier for the gardeners to avoid discarding the particular leaves and stones Jason picked up as trash.

Jason returned quickly, and along a proper path this time, Hannel in tow.

“See, Hannel, I’m here with Aelius. He said it’s okay as long as you say it’s okay.”

Aelius acknowledged Hannel’s presence with a nod and brief smile, receiving a nod in return from Jason’s current guard-cum-nursemaid, before the older woman crouched down to speak with the prince. 

“Very well, Prince Jason,” he heard her say, “But remember that Aelius is on duty for a mark yet, and don’t distract him.”

Jason nodded emphatically before darting to the patch of the cobblestone path in Aelius’ shadow and sitting down, just close enough to touch and seemingly content to simply be there. Aelius still had to marvel at how attached this child had gotten to him. Between the Queen’s disdain of violence, the usual distrust of foreigners - particularly of foreign mercenaries, and Jason’s own trauma, there were far more reasons for Jason to stay away from him than for him to seek him out. One of these days he would find the right words to ask why. Perhaps by then Jason would have the right words to explain. Until then, he would just try to find more comfort than terror in the fact Prince Jason had apparently designated him ‘safe’.

Hannel smoothly rose to her feet and addressed him now, saying, “I will be nearby; if you need me, just whistle.”

She faded back into the garden paths, undoubtedly finding a conveniently accessible patch of garden that was still hidden from Jason’s sight. Hannel was thoroughly professional, one of the few Jason had never managed to truly slip away from, though that was probably due to the fact she was so very good at maintaining the balance between guarding him and letting him think he was getting his way. Jason had very little reason to try and give her the slip. Jason was far too young, far too vulnerable, to ever be left unattended, even with Aelius. _Especially_ with Aelius, in some minds, no matter how Jason insisted. But she would give him the illusion.

The next quarter-bell had rung before Jason started asking questions. He was getting better at sitting and watching – he had even pointed out the way the shadow of a tree across the way shifted when people out of sight walked by, all on his own! Aelius had taken to calling Jason’s attention to things a Guard should be aware of when he could, it would useful for him going forwards and it gave Jason something to focus on besides whatever thoughts weighed him down.

It also delayed the questions, which were never ending and veered from surprisingly insightful to an ignorant innocence Aelius didn’t quite know what to do with.

“Guard Aelius?”

It had begun.

“Yes, Prince Jason?” Aelius replied, keeping his voice similarly soft so this conversation wouldn’t carry far.

“Why do you sometimes use strange words?”

It took Aelius a moment to realize what Jason meant by that, but once he did it was easy enough to answer. “I am not from Valdemar, Prince Jason. Sometimes I wish to say things that your language does not have the words for, so I use words from other languages to fill in the gaps.” 

“But people still wouldn’t understand you,” Jason protested, briefly sidetracked by a bird suddenly taking flight, but quickly returning to the topic, “They don’t know the words you use, and then you have to explain it, and use Valdemaran words to do that. Why use the weird words? Um... The not Valdemaran words?”

Ha, that gentle not-lecture he’d stolen from Kantor on the connotations of the word weird had stuck. Look at him, teaching diplomacy!

Well. Look at him, relaying Kantor’s lessons on diplomacy!

“It is faster,” Aelius replied, shifting his feet slightly so his angle of observation changed that little bit to keep his mind alert while he kept scanning his zone, “I may have to explain at first, but that explanation is often very long. Much longer than whatever word I used, and if there is no Valdemaran word to replace my word, I can keep using my word and people remember what I explained. Also, much of the time people can understand what my word means based on the other words I said that are near it. That is called… um, ‘Context’, if I remember correctly.”

He let Jason digest that a bit before prompting, “Do you have difficulty understanding me?”

Jason thought a long moment, far longer than Aelius would have expected, implying this questioning was likely prompted by such an incident. Perhaps it had happened a few times – and perhaps it had happened when Aelius hadn’t known Jason was around, and he feared being scolded for rudeness.

Aelius had learned far too many things by happening to be under or over the right window, or hiding in one of the hedge-spots sized for adults Jason had shown him. He could hardly scold for that. 

“Not usually,” Jason finally said, “But sometimes I get confused.”

Aelius left off scanning the area to give the boy a brief smile, “Then ask. I will explain.”

He returned to his scan, Jason’s words a little hesitant as he said, “Sometimes it’s when you’re talking to other people and I’d get in trouble for asking.”

As he had suspected. Jason was quite the little stealth master, shame he was a Prince. Could be useful for security, though, so long as he stopped using that against his own guards.

“So ask me now,” Aelius encouraged, “Do you remember what we were talking about?”

“Um. It was something about Herald Kantor's Companion? I heard her name a couple of times. But you were talking about horse ears? Or horsier things? It – sounded like you were saying Melanthe was horsier than something but Companions aren’t horses and Herald Kantor didn’t say anything and it was confusing.” 

The only disadvantage to talking with Kantor so often was the fact he was spoiled for choice as far as what conversation the Prince had overheard, and Lady Melanthe being the topic wasn’t much help; she came up as both a topic and as an active participant via Kantor’s relay rather often. But one particular conversation did come to mind – it had been a bit of a revelation for all parties involved.

“Was this about a week ago, near the stables?” Aelius asked, chuckling softly at the memory and Jason’s sheepish nod both. The incident in question had been in the middle of what Aelius now knew was supposed to be Jason’s riding lessons, so he had evidently been slacking off at the time. Fair enough, the sheer number of lessons Jason was in was rather daunting, though he didn’t have any of the farm and home chores Aelius remembered being tasked with at that age. 

“As you know, I am not from Valdemar. When we were hired to come to Valdemar we received many warnings about being careful around Heralds, described as ‘Riders dressed in white and especially around their white horses’,” Aelius explained, “It seemed odd, but once we arrived and realized they were King’s Men, it made sense. In many places, King’s Men are quick to take offense and can cause a lot of trouble when they want to.”

Aelius paused, and glanced Jason’s way to see if he had picked up on the implications. The Prince was staring at him in rapt attention, but still offered, “Like when people thought the guards weren’t good?”

“Yes, much like,” Aelius agreed, continuing his inspection and explanation alike, “We did not know of Heralds, so we assumed they were much the same. No one wants trouble, so we were just very careful in what we said and did when we saw Heralds nearby.

“I met Kantor without knowing he was a Herald, and we were somewhat friends before I found out he was one. He would talk of Melanthe though, even before that, and had a tone of much respect and affection. I assumed she was a sponsor or mentor – that is, someone who had helped him gain his position and offered advice. Which she is, but not how I had thought, I had thought she was a human Lady, not a horse _'ir_. Is that the phrase that confused you?”

“Yes!” Jason said, eyes lighting up and his posture straightening, “I thought it was horsier or horse ear. Can you say it again?”

“Horse _'ir_ ,” Aelius repeated, doing so a few times when Jason parroted it back to him, getting close to the right particle-pause and inflection before Aelius finally decided close enough and gave him a nod, explaining, “That is the word that fits Companion, in my language.”

Jason looked a little bewildered before sinking into deep concentration, so Aelius let him think that over while he continued his scan. Jason finally looked up, asking “If you didn’t know about Heralds and Companions, how could you have a word for it?”

Aelius almost laughed, both at the question and at the memory of the first time he’d explained this to someone. 

“I borrowed the ‘horse’ part from Valdemaran, Prince Jason. I had tried to translate _‘ir_ as well, but it turns out that horse-person means something very different in your tongue,” he flashed the Prince a grin and made a mental note of the next quarter-bell. Two more before his shift was over, and he was likely pulled into being with Jason for a mark or two more. “In my land there are five Peoples – though none are Companions, and one has died out over the centuries. We have a word for ‘person’ that refers to the intelligence and ethical parts of being a person, but not the shape. It is attached to the word describing their shape – so I am a _heka’ir_ , as are… well. All the Valdemarans I’ve met besides the Companions. I suppose in Valdemaran that would be human _’ir_. The _kyree’ir_ you might call wolf _’ir_ , with _dyheldi’ir_ being… deer _’ir_? That one sounds so awkward in Valdemaran. I have no word to correspond to a _tervard'ir_. Bird _‘ir_ is not right as Tervardi do not so greatly resemble birds. And _gryphon’ir_ are… you can’t call them something different either.”

“Gryphons!?!” Jason cried, eyes huge in his face, “I thought they were just stories!” 

Well, it seemed he knew exactly what he’d be doing once he was off shift.

**Author's Note:**

> In response to a comment thread on a different ficlet, an illustration I've done of [a tervardi](https://www.deviantart.com/origami-roses/art/Tervardi-867913494) may be found here. ~OR


End file.
